Gary Dolphin has seen a lot of tremendous football in his storied career as the "Voice of the Hawkeyes." 

He's been on the call for 23 bowl games, two Big Ten championships, three Big Ten West Division titles, and has narrated countless other fun moments in his 29-season run with Iowa football. 

READ MORE: Gary Dolphin Celebrates 30 Years As The Voice of Iowa Football 

Spend five minutes in conversation with Dolphin, a Dubuque native, and it's easy to see that he's in his dream job. He'll spend hours drifting away into the memory books recovering some of his favorite plays and games from his tenure behind the mic, but when Jan. 1, 2005 comes up, there's still a tinge of regret in his voice. 

New Year's Day 2005 is a date many Hawkeye fans likely have engraved in their minds until the end of time. That's because it featured one of the most dramatic and exciting climaxes to an Iowa football game ever - Drew Tate's game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Warren Holloway in the final seconds of the Capitol One Bowl. 

Iowa fans don't need much of a description of this play. The underdog and co-Big Ten champion Hawkeyes had built up a 24-12 lead against Nick Saban and the defending national champion LSU Tigers, but let the edge slip away late in the fourth quarter. 

With only seconds remaining, Iowa needed a miracle. The Hawkeyes drove the ball near midfield with roughly 15 seconds to go, but a clock mishap resulted in Tate being forced to throw a desperation heave. 

"They line up inside 10 seconds, and I'm thinking, 'My God, the game's going to end on this play,'" Dolphin recalled. "In fact, I even blurted that out, and the Hawks are out of field goal range." 

You all know what happened next. The Tiger defense completely lapsed, allowing Holloway to streak down the far side of the field virtually untouched.

Tate admitted in an interview to The Daily Iowan that he thought he overthrew Holloway at first, but the ball was perfect, and Holloway coasted into the end-zone for the improbable touchdown. The play is now affectionally referred to as "Tate to Holloway" by Iowa fans. 

Not surprisingly, Dolphin and his broadcast partner, Ed Podolak, had an exciting reaction to the ridiculous play. Listen to it here:

Dolphin's call perfectly captures what every single Iowa fan was feeling in this moment. The confusion before the snap. The last-dash of hope while the ball is in the air. The jubilation when Holloway scores. 

Many Hawkeye fans rank this as one of Dolphin's best calls as the "Voice of the Hawkeyes," but Dolphin has a different definition of the call. While he praises the enthusiasm he brought to the fanbase, there's always one piece of the call he regrets - not mentioning Holloway's name. 

Dolphin had a pretty good excuse for not remembering Holloway's name. The Illinois native had never caught a touchdown pass in his entire career up to that point, but did record 28 receptions during the regular season. 

Besides, the confusion that led to this final play had to be mentioned by Dolphin, too. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz allowed valuable seconds to tick off before this play was snapped, resulting in the illegal formation penalty that occurred just before the play. 

Though the mishap probably had to be mentioned for the listening audience, Dolphin wishes he would've focused on the action taking place on the field - not discussing what already happened. 

"I learned a valuable lesson. You're the play-by-play guy, call the play, you can always come back to why didn't Iowa call time out, let Podolak blurt it all over the place, that's what he's getting paid to do, but I lost track of who caught the pass, Dolphin said." 

Dolphin will always wish he could have this call back, but that's only a slight feeling, though. The excitement and positive reception from Hawkeye Nation still makes the call more than worth it. 

"You know what didn't matter - the fan base," Dolphin said. "It was the excitement, the euphoria, the unbelievable layout of that play against Nick Saban and LSU, the Bayou Bengal Tigers, who had 10 times more talent man for man than the Hawks, but the Hawks had more grit, guts, and willpower than LSU did that day." 

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]